Brick-simulating wood panel



Sept 2, 1958 H. w. BURDETTE 2,849,759

BRICK-SIMULATING woon PANEL Filed July 13, 19 56 E L me mo Va mu B w. D L c A H ares arent 2,849,159 Patented Sept. 2, 1958 BRICK-SIMULATING Woon PANEL Harold William Burdette, Pueblo, Colo.

Application July 13, 1956, Serial No. 597,772

1 Claim. (Cl. 20-15) This invention relates to panelling so designed as to provide, to thecasual viewer, the effect of brickwork or other masonry.

The use of brick as an interior decorative assembly, both in the home and Iin commercial establishments, is iinding increasing favor. However, erection of brick walls and similar structures involves considerable expense, and the main object of the present invention, accordingly, is to design a brick-simulating panelling that will be capable of erection-easily and at relatively low cost, While still providing the appearance of a brick wall.

i The invention has particular adaptability for interior use, but can be used, it is believed, on certain types of exterior structures. n

Summarized briefly, the invention includes a plurality of horizontally extending members having top and bottom longitudinal grooves interrupted at uniformly spaced intervals along the length of the members by transverse grooves. The front walls of the several grooves are lower than the back walls, and accordingly the member simulates closely a course of conventionally laid bricks. A

i plurality of members are adapted to be nailed to an assol the panels of the members being correspondingly painted or otherwise surface-treated to simulate the faces of con- `ventional bricks.

One object of importance is to provide panelling as described which will be relatively low in cost.

Another object is to design the panelling so that it Will be light in weight and simple to install, the construction l being particularly adapted to allow installation with a minimum number of tools, by a relatively unskilled worker. v

A further object is to design the panelling in such a wayA as to permit it to be nailed toany surface that will receive a conventional nail.

Still another object is to design the brick-simulating panel as to permit mass production manufacture thereof, with the panelling being adapted to be cut to any desired size, and to be erected to any height upon an associated wall surface.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claim .appended hereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

. Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view showing the panelling during the process of erecting a Wall therewith;

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view -of the panelling.

The panelling constituting the present invention has been generally designated by the reference numeral 10, and is designed to be nailed to any surface that Will receive a nail, provided said surface has the desired freedom from irregularities. `ln a new installation, the panelling could be applied to plywood sheets, the thickness of which would be as desired by the user. On other installations, rring strips could be used. However, it is to be noted at this point that the invention is not to be limited by the particular surface to which it is applicable.

In Figure l, as one example of a surface to which the panelling could be applied, there are shown studs 12 such as are used in a conventional interior partition of a house or other building, and applied to said studs are lengths of Wood sheathing 14. Plywood might be used in place of the sheathing 14 and would probably, in fact, be preferred, the sheathing being illustrated merely as an example of one type of backing surface or wall structure to which the panelling 10 can be secured.

The panelling 10 includes a plurality of superposed, longitudinally contacting, horizontally extending strips 16. As shown in Figure 4, said strips are longitudinally grooved at their top and bottom edges, the longitudinal grooves being designated at 18 and extending continuously for the full length of the strips. The grooves have back walls 20 which are thicker and higher than the front walls 22 thereof, that is, the front Walls of the grooves are oifset inwardly from the outer longitudinal edges of the back Walls 20.

Due to this arrangement, when the strips are in longitudinally contacting relation as shown in Figure 3, the edges of the back walls of contacting strips will abut one another for their full lengths. Since the front Walls 22 are offset inwardly from the back Walls, however, the adjacent walls 22 of adjacent, contacting strips will be spaced apart from 4one another to simulate the spacing of superposed courses of bricks conventionally provided for the purpose vof receiving a mortar bond.

At uniformly spaced intervals along the length of each strip 16 there are formed transverse grooves 24, communicating between the longitudinal grooves and undercut to provide overhanging lips or flanges 26 (see Figure 2) thereon. The spacing of the lips from each other provides a simulation of the vertical mortar bonds used for spacing adjacent bricks -of the same course from each other.

Midway between the opposite ends of each transverse groove 24 there is formed a small opening 28, adapted to receive a nail 30 driven into a backing surface to which the panelling is applied.

In the erection of a wall, the lowermost strip 16 would first be nailed to the supporting surface, and this strip may be specially formed so that the lower edges of the brick-simulating panels thereof would be in direct contact with the oor surface. Alternatively, the strip, so as to reduce the cost of manufacture, could be identical to all the other strips used. In this event, a longitudinal ller strip, surfaced to simulate mortar, would be extended within the lower longitudinal groove 18 of the lowermost strip 16, with said ller strip being half the width of the remaining iiller strips used. The remaining iiller strips have been designated at 32, and are merely thin, flat lengths of wood material, the thickness of which is substantially equal to the width of any groove 18 (see Figure 3).

In this connection, in addition to the longitudinal filler strips 32, there are also provided transverse, short, joint filler strips 34. The thickness of these is equal to the thickness of the longitudinal joint fillers 32. In length,

each transverse joint ller 34 equals the distance between the bottom walls of the opposite longitudinal grooves of a strip 16.

Therefore, when the lowermost strip 16 has been nailed to the surface and a lower longitudinal jointller inserted in the bottom longitudinal groove thereof, the next-step would be to insert the transverse joint llers 34 inthe several grooves 24 of the lowermost strip 16. T hen, the next higher strip 16 is nailed to the surface, with its brick-simulating panels staggered in respect to the corresponding panels of the lowermost strip. The next strip is then nailed up, and a horizontal joint filler 32 is inserted in the confronting longitudinal grooves 1S of the lowermost and the next higher strip 16. Thereafter, transverse joint'fillers are inserted in the grooves 24 of the next higher strip, and the procedure is repeated until the wall has been erected to its full height.

It will be seen that when the wall is completed, there will be visible through the longitudinal and transverse grooves only the surfaces of the several joint llers. These, as previously noted, simulate mortar, and since they are recessed within the panelling (see Figure 3) a faithful simulation of struck joints results.

No dimensions for the several pieces 'illustrated are provided, since these may possibly be varied, and it is not desired that patentability be limited .in any way by specifying dimensions. Most usually, however, the rectangular, brick-simulating panels would correspond in dimensions to conventional bricks, and the spaces defining mortar joints would correspondingly be dimensioned to simulate conventional mortar bonds.

vAs previously noted, the invention is especially adapted for interior installations, but again it is not desired to limit the protection by a particular location at which,

the wall can be erected through use of the ,panelling It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention necessarily limited to the specic construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles, and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

Brick-simulating paneling comprising: a plurality of superposed, coplanar, longitudinally contacting, elongated, horizontally extending strips having undercut peripheral grooves continuously extending through the full peripheries of the strips, to dene end and longitudinal grooves on each strip, each strip having intermediate its ends at least one transverse groove communicating at its opposite ends with the respective longitudinal grooves of the strip, said transverse groove being formed with a nail hole adapted to receive a nail for securing the strip to an adjacent, vertical supporting surface, the several longitudinal and end grooves having back walls offset outwardly in respect to the front walls thereof whereby to space the front walls of adjacent, communcating, longitudinal and end grooves of adjacent, contacting strips away from each other to simulate a motar-receiving groove extending along the line of contact of adjacent, contacting strips; elongated ller strips formed as flat, preformed, thin bar-shaped inserts, said ller strips being extended within the cemmunieating, adjacent longitudinal grooves of longitudinally contacting first named strips; and a plurality of short ller strips also formed -as inserts from thin bar stock, the second named filler strips being inserted in the end and transverse grooves and abutting at their ends against adjacent sides of adjacent ones of the irst named filler strips, the several filler strips being surfaced to simulate mortar and having outer faces exposed between the front walls of the respective end and transverse grooves, each of the several ller strips having their outer and inner faces kin parallel planes, and having side and end surfaces in planes perpendicular to the planes of said outer and inner faces thereof, each of the respective end, transverse, and longitudinal grooves having front and back walls in parallel -planes and in face-to-face contact with the outer andinner faces, respectively, of the several ller strips, each of said end, transverse, and longitudinal grooves having a side wall perpendicular to the planes of the front and back walls thereof and disposed in face-to-face Contact with the adjacent side surface of the ller strip engaged therein, the opposite ends of said short filler `strips being cut olf squarely and being disposed in Vface-to-face contact with the confronting side surfaces of the first named strips, allof said ller strips being greater in width, when said width is measured along lines lying in the general plane of the first named strips and extending perpendiculary to the lengths of the ller strips, than in thickness when said thickness is measured along lines normal to said general plane of the rst named strips from the outer to the inner surfaces of the filler strips, the distance between said front and back walls of each groove measured along the last named lines being substantially less than half the over-all thickness of each first lnamed strip measured along the last named lines.

ReferencesvCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,802,467 'Hamm Apr. 28, 1931 1,909,625 Meier May` 16, 1933 1,982,724 Benevento Dec. 4, 1934 2,012,630 Joannides Aug. 27, 1935 2,141,946 Batcheller et al. Dec. 27, 1938 2,676,482 Wilson Apr. 27, 1954 

